"Seven Days" Barack Obama Letter Makes Zennie Abraham Famous In Vermont

Seven Days, the alternative weekly of Vermont, published my letter to the editor, which I wrote in response to an article on Barack Obama's fundraising efforts out there. This is what I wrote and Seven Days posted:

THE NOVEL PRIZE
I’m responding to your article on Senator Barack Obama’s fundraiser [“Obama’s Vermont Appearance Raises Hopes — and More Than $250,000,” August 15] . . . and the idea that some of your readers express of the “novelty of a minority candidate.”

First: Being President of the United States means understanding that, at times, the military is an option that must be employed, but only intelligently. Senator Obama knows this. Second: Senator Obama is running to be President of the United States, which means he’s working for all of us.

Some people are so fixated on skin color they can’t see logic or fact. Logic tells us to vote for the best candidate, period. And the fact is that Senator Obama comes from a black father and a white mother. Big deal! The reason why Barack Obama is so popular is for reasons unique to who he is as an individual. Intelligent Americans know this, and there are a lot of us.
Zennie Abraham, Jr.
OAKLAND, CA

Abraham recently visited Vermont on business.

Hillary Clinton Is "Two-Faced" To National Black Chamber Of Commerce - Clinton Voted Against Bill To Help Blacks With AIDS

Is Hillary Clinton Flip-Flopping Blacks?

Hillary Clinton's painted as two-faced to African Americans.

In a letter that was totally ignored by the mainstream media, Harry Alford, President of The National Black Chamber of Commerce, wrote directly to Senator Hillary Clinton that he was "stunned" that she appeared at Howard University for a debate before an African American audience acting as the champion of approving funding for HIV / AIDS treatment in low income Black communities, when she herself voted against a bill that would have improved monies and help for HIV / AIDS treatment in those same communities.

This is the letter Mr. Alford wrote below. It's a hell of a damning read:

July 11, 2007

The Honorable Hillary Clinton
United States Senate
428 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Clinton:

I watched the June 28th Democratic presidential candidates’ debate at Howard University with great interest, and in particular I wanted to address your comments about HIV/AIDS.

I found it interesting that you chose a presidential debate, held before a largely African American audience, to speak out on the fact that HIV/AIDS funding does not fairly reach African Americans with HIV. I only wish you had voted the same way last year in the United States Senate, when we really needed you.

In fact, as was reported in the Washington Post on August 23, 2006, you led the effort to gut provisions in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 (S. 2823) which would have fixed the increasingly unfair and outdated formulas that hurt African Americans, particularly in the rural South. The bipartisan remedy to this problem, which would have ensured funding would follow the caseload instead of short-changing African Americans, had been supported by 19 of the 20 Senators on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee – and you were the lone “no” vote.
I was stunned to see you, less than a year later, performing before a black audience as if you had led the fight for these changes instead of being the lone warrior against them. Indeed, due to your efforts, these desperately needed remedies had to be cut from the bill or you would not have allowed the Ryan White program to be renewed.

African Americans have overtaken every other ethnic group to become the face of HIV/AIDS in America, and we all have a duty to ensure that every black American living with HIV/AIDS has equal access to the care and support services needed from the federal Ryan White CARE Act to stay healthy and stay alive.

I am glad that at least now, unlike last year, you recognize that women of color in the South are 26 times more likely to be HIV-positive than white females. But thanks to your determined fight against reforms last year, a large portion of Ryan White CARE Act funding is still set aside for large metropolitan areas, and most of the states in the South will never qualify for it. African Americans make up 19% of the South’s population, but accounted for over 60% of all new AIDS cases in 2003. Eight southern states have had to treat the same number of people with HIV/AIDS as other states which have gotten more funding under the outdated formulas. You blocked the changes we needed to fix that.

In fact, as Congressional action dragged on without resolution last year, three people died in South Carolina among some 300 HIV/AIDS patients sitting on an AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list at the time because the state’s Ryan White funding had once again run out too early.

It is distressing to see the person who single-handedly defeated the most recent effort to get equitable HIV/AIDS funding formulas for African Americans appear today as if she is their greatest champion. Sadly, our community has seen far too much pandering in presidential campaigns and far too little getting delivered that will make a difference for all of us, no matter where we live.

African Americans with HIV/AIDS need visionary leaders with innovative ideas. We need someone who will finally win the fight to make health care funding follow the need in this country, instead of leaving entire communities out in the cold. We don’t need ever-changing candidates who know how to pander, but don’t know how to lead.

I respectfully ask that you bolster your newfound enthusiasm for correcting the growing disparities in HIV/AIDS funding by actively working to undo the damage of your efforts last year. If you’re truly seeking to lead, please introduce new legislation that would ensure that the Title I funding formulas in the Ryan White CARE Act follow the HIV/AIDS caseload with no more unfair set-asides and end the injustice that has cost lives and harmed the nation’s integrity.

Sincerely,

Harry Alford
President/CEO

cc: The Honorable Barack Obama

With all of this, one wonders why Senator Clinton gets as much support from the Black community as she does. Perhaps it's because people -- in general -- just don't know what's going on.

Rudy Giuliani - Giuliani To Protect Us From Aliens

According to this article, Republican Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani will make sure we're prepared to defend ourselves from an attack by alien beings.

Ok.

I guess that means we have a laser defense system.

The pure idea of this is interesting because 1) we have no freaking idea how we'll be attacked, and 2) it proves how we think -- some of us -- that because something's different, it's bad.

Geez.

Poll: Clinton Has Large Lead in N.H.

But the poll has a huge problem. And Senator Obama's more popular than Clinton with voters under 45.

By The Associated Press
Sun Oct 14, 7:40 AM ET

Hillary Rodham Clinton is holding a commanding lead over Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination in New Hampshire, a poll released Sunday found.

Clinton had the support of 40 percent of those surveyed compared to 20 percent for Obama, Marist College Institute for Public Opinion said.

John Edwards was third (12 percent) and Bill Richardson fourth (7 percent).

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney held a slight edge over Rudy Giuliani (25 percent to 21 percent). John McCain was third (18 percent) and Fred Thompson fourth (10 percent).

Clinton was the overwhelming choice among those polled who want a strong leader or someone who will bring about change — 44 percent chose her compared with 20 percent for Obama and 11 percent for Edwards.

Clinton also drew the most support — 33 percent — from those questioned who ranked the Iraq war as their top issue. And the New York senator was seen as the most likely Democrat to win in November, getting the nod from 58 percent in the survey.

On the GOP side, when people were asked to pick a strong leader, Romney got 29 percent, compared with 23 percent for McCain and 22 percent for Giuliani.

Security against terrorism was the most important issue for GOP voters; on this issue, Romney was picked by 29 percent, and Giuliani and McCain by 21 percent each. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, was picked by more people in the survey as having the best chance of winning in November — 36 percent versus 30 percent for Romney.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 4-9 and involved telephone interviews with 1,512 registered voters and New Hampshire residents likely to register in time to vote in the presidential primary.

The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for Democratic primary voters and 4.5 percentage points for Republican primary voters.

Barack Obama Leads In NH With Voters Under 45 Years Old - Pollster Mentions That In Fine Point

The so-called latest New Hampshire Poll says that Senator Hillary Clinton has a 20-point lead in that state.

But a look at the actual poll data that Marist College Institute for Public Opinion has released so far shows this -- in fine print:

Barack Obama does better among independents than Democrats. He receives the support of 29% of independents but just 14% of Democrats. Senator Obama is also more popular with younger voters than voters forty-five years of age or older. 29% of likely Democratic presidential primary voters under age forty-five support him compared with 15% of voters who are forty-five or older.

This opens a major-league can of worms for the credibility of reporting that Senator Clinton has any kind of real lead in New Hampshire.

The last NH poll also reported a Clinton lead, but only 17 percent of the people contacted bothered to respond, which means that a whopping 83 percent were undecided. Plus, there was no age breakdown given in the poll data released.

Still, the Clinton people, especially their campaign leaders , are acting like they're ahead, setting the stage for what could be a major surprise.

In Iowa, Hillary Clinton Backer Terry McAuliffe Says Clinton Iraq Vote Flip-Flop Due To Gender

Folks, I'm not making this up. It comes from the Iowa Independent newspaper. On August 30th, Clinton Campaign President Terry McAuliffe opened his mouth and stuck his foot deep in it, pissing off the people in attendance and possibly damaging the Clinton effort in Iowa.

On top of that, McAuliffe's act is upsetting other Iowans as well, and one person just plain wrote "I'm sick of Terry McAuliffe." Yes, the person who will stand in a photo with a Panda -- a costumed Panda -- for a vote, is proving to be a major liability in the state Clinton needs to prove she's unstoppable.

And what's so funny is he's the head of the campaign. He's walking around acting like they've got the election in the bag and thus not being affaid to make stupid statements, like this doozy of a running-off-at-the-mouth you're about to see below.

According to Chase Martyn, ....

Terry McAuliffe, who serves as Chair of Clinton's presidential campaign and was Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005, helped shed light on why Clinton will not admit her vote was a mistake during an August 30 appearance at a coffee shop in Grinnell, IA. Abby Rapoport, editor-in-chief of Grinnell College's Scarlet & Black student newspaper, was the only reporter present for McAuliffe's candid conversation, and she quoted him this way in the September 7 issue of the paper:

McAuliffe declared that under no circumstances would she take back her vote. “A woman?” he almost yelled. “Can you imagine?”

Iowa Independent has verified from three other attendees of the event that McAuliffe was quoted accurately. Ironically, those attendees also told us that before discussing the connection between Clinton's position on her war vote and her gender, McAuliffe noted that he could only speak so candidly because there were no reporters present -- or so he thought.




Grinnell Coffee Company has a hip, artsy vibe with its black walls and its Venus Rising painting with a French coffee press. But I walked straight to the back, where a small beige room stands in stark contrast to the warm and friendly coffee shop. In the room, Grinnell community members talked in small clusters, awaiting the arrival of yet another politico to plead for their vote.
Suddenly a wholly alien force took over the room. Terry McAuliffe, former Democratic National Committee Chair and long time friend of the Clintons, arrived with an air of dominance, as all eyes focused on him.

McAuliffe is tall, with a booming voice and a slick, used-car-salesman type charm. His smiles and greetings, not to mention his slaps on the back of Wayne Moyer, Political Science, felt too self-congratulatory. You guys haven't won yet, I thought.

As if on command, we all sat down at once, waiting to hear what McAuliffe would say. Yet no one seemed more excited to hear him speak than McAuliffe himself. I guessed it would have something to do with voting for Hillary, given the posters taped to the wall and the stacks of lawn signs in the corner. But his tone was not quite what I imagined.

After asking who in the room would be supporting Hillary and finding only four of the twelve attendees to be loyal, McAuliffe began by emphasizing the campaign's currently successes, and its domination of the polls. He almost seemed to gloss over the nomination process, eager to talk about the general election.

"A lot of people ask me, `Can she win the general election?'" he boomed. The sweet older woman next to me seemed to perk up and nod at the question; presumably, she was asking it too. "Well," he continued, "that's the dumbest question I've ever heard." The woman seemed to stop nodding along.

McAuliffe spoke for almost forty-five minutes, focusing mainly on the general election, an election, he announced, that the Clinton campaign was already fundraising for.

"Anyone in the room who doesn't think this isn't going to be the most vicious campaign is nuts," he proclaimed. He seemed ready for the viciousness though. Later, he declared that "If you defame this woman … we will hit you back so hard your head will spin."

I kept trying to remind myself, undecided that I was, that in fact McAuliffe was not Hillary Clinton and his pushy, aggressive style did not necessarily discount his candidate. And at least he wasn't attacking other candidates, a trait I find particularly frustrating. Hear him all the way through, I thought. Give Hillary a chance.

And apparently Hillary needs my help. "Hillary is going to get elected," he proclaimed, "and I'll tell you why folks, because of women." 18 through 35 year-old women, he specified. ME.

But it was another 18 to 35 year old woman that caused a stir. McAuliffe asked those of us who were not supporters at the beginning of his little talk if any of us had changed out minds. When he found that none of us were swayed, he asked someone to come forward with their objections to his candidate, Jordan Levine '10 , one of the leaders of the Students for Hillary, pointed to Hannah Garden-Monheit '08, leader of Students for Obama. McAuliffe pushed her. "I don't mean to put you on the spot but…"

Garden-Monheit said she disliked Clinton's war vote. McAuliffe declared that under no circumstances would she take back her vote. "A woman?" he almost yelled. "Can you imagine?"

Carol Kramer, one of the four in the room supporting Clinton, echoed Garden-Monheit's concerns about Clinton's war vote.. "I want her to apologize," she explained.

"And I don't," McAuliffe retorted. Supporters could still incur his condescension. He reminded us that "[Republicans] are killers …. They're gonna lie, they're gonna steal-they're good at it."

But his parting words were more unifying. "We all come together in the end," he said. Fine, I thought. I'll vote for any of them-as long as I don't have to vote for you.

Whatever the reasons for Terry's behavior, it's clear he thinks the campaign's so far ahead it can survive his display of arrogance and stupidity.

Big mistake.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer Interviews Ron Paul - Video

This interview reveals Ron Paul's first CNN interview on the Situation Room. He did well just be speaking planly. It -- this performance -- is why I'd like to see my CNN/YouTube Republican Debate Question answered. I want to hear his response.

Barack Obama, African Americans, Clinton, and Black Fear Of Success

The way Rev. Al Sharpton's treated Senator Barack Obama earlier this year reminds me of something that happened to me in Oakland, and it's a sign of how we as African Americans fear social success and breaking the glass ceiling. Indeed, given that Barack could be our next President, you'd think there would be an automatic Black voting block.

Instead some of us are backing Hillary Clinton, but don't believe for a moment that it's because of Hillary Clinton -- it's because some of us are scared of seeing the reality of a Black person in charge of America. Let me explain.

In 1998, I worked for the City of Oakland, and then-Mayor Jerry Brown, fresh from his election victory, was moving into City Hall, I was to be transfered over from my office in the Mayor's Office, to ...somewhere.

Then-Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb personally asked me to talk with then-Economic Development Director Bill Claggett, with whom I did not entirely get along with at the time. But I did have lunch with him and he told me that he thought I talked like I knew everything. To which I said it wasn't that I did, but many people -- himself included -- were not used to hearing someone Black speak well.

At that point, I didn't want to go over to Economic Development

When I told Robert Robb what happened, his reaction was that he expected Glaggett to say that. "Oakland," he said, "Is a crabbarrel town. You know what I mean? You? Bright. Young. Articulate. Black. They can't stand that. They want to pull you down."

Because Bobb said that, I went to Economic Development -- simply because he knew what the problem was and how stupid some of the people were being. The same can be said for Reverend Al -- well the stupid part that is.

One big reason some of us African Americans have been slow to overcome the chains of the past and also willing to back Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama is that people like Reverend Al won't let us take them off. That's certainly not my problem as I'm a stauch supporter of Senator Obama for President, but that's not what I'm writing about here. I'm writing about those Blacks who actually fear Barack's success. Those who think he can't win because he's Black -- like them.

And for every one of us who does overcome that mentality and the chains that come with it, like Barack Obama, there's someone like Reverend Al, right there to put them back on again -- or at least try to. According to an article in the New York Post , Sharpton doens't like Obama and is jealous of his success. Or he was at the time the article was written.



Now Sharpton knows that if anyone can help him achieve his agenda, it's Barack Obama, but the possibility of success was not desirable to him as long as he had to deal with someone who's able to be something that Sharpton doesn't see himself as: bright, smart, and attractive.

So, Sharpton says Barack's "not Black" knowing all the time that slavery is not a measure of Blackness and never was. There were "free" Blacks even during Slavery. He also knows that many of us have some measure of "White blood," -- whatever that means as I tend to think in terms that are more specific to region and not skin color -- and that's certainly true for Barack. Big deal. It's how society regards us, and everyone sees Barack Obama as Black, including himself.

I've gotten the same slings and arrows from not just Blacks, but people like Bill Claggett, who's White, that Barack Obama's getting today. Fortunately, America's waking-up to the stupidity of people like Claggett and Sharpton, and in such a way that Sharpton's childish attitude could wind up hurting his friend and presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. More and more people are responding to Senator Obama as an individual who's a born leader and one who's capable of bridging gaps in society. Barack can win the presidency.

But such an outcome seems to be an issue to a "Crabbarel" like Reverend Al. As long as Blacks remain second class citizens and there's room for his "victimization" approach, and he's on top, that's all. It's all about Reverend Al, no matter how much it hurts other Blacks like me or Senator Obama.

He's just trying to pull us down.

Havard Professor Derrick Bell has explained these problems well. Bell once said that he got into a cab on the way to the airport, when the cabbie, who's African American, asked him what he did. "I'm a professor at Harvard," he said. "Oh, " responded the cab driver, It's folks like you who make it harder for the rest of us."

What the cab driver meant, and Bell understood, was that his position as a professor at Harvard was a sign that other African Americans could achieve that status, and that Bell's success made it harder for the cab driver to see his Blackness as a block to achivement.

Some of us who are Black may look at Barack the same way as the cabbie looked at Professor Bell, but it's wrong. We should see Barack as a role model and someone who can win the nomination, should win the nomination, and in doing so break that glass ceiling. Indeed, you'd think intelligent African Americans like Stanley Crouch would know this, but even he can't help tugging that mental chain. Crouch stupidly -- that's what it is -- said that Barack wasn't Black because he didn't have the background of slavery.

That's just plain dumb. It is.

To be frank, if Barack were Italian or Asian, people who identify themselves as Italian or Asian would speak of him with pride, not fear. We're the only set of people with the tendency to express fear of success, and that should be a major concern to everyone in America, regardless of race, creed, or color.

If we as a major part of American Culture can't feel good about ourselves, then we harm the ability of the country itself to improve. We've got to take off our mental chains and follow Barack, without fear.

Clinton Cackle - Like Howard Dean Or "The Joker" In Batman

Type "Clinton Cackle" in Google and you'll get over 22,000 results. That's bad. It means that Senator Clinton's rather annoying laugh, called a "cackle", could be the defining moment of this election and the one act that sinks her Presidential Campaign.

It's too much like Howard Dean's yelling ARRGGHHH!!, which has been replayed again and again, and still again. You can't think of Howard Dean without thinking about that sick scream of his. Same with Clinton.

As the Boston Globe put it: "HENS CACKLE. So do witches. And, so does the front-runner in the Democratic presidential contest."

The lagh reminds me of one famous, sinsiter yodling yelp, that of none other than "The Joker" in Batman.

Hillary Clinton, The Joker? Seems so. Seems so. Listen to this:

Fred Thompson - "Can I Have A Round of Applause?"

Wow. I think the acting bug's really gotten to Senator and Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson. In this YouTube video that's below and I found over at Wonkette , he's begging for it. I can't remember seeing a Presidential candidate ask for it.

That's a sure sign of a lack of charisma. I used to think actors had it automatically, but now I'm thinking that it's a sign of how good the actor may be that we think he or she's got it.

Ron Paul, Bill O'Reilly, Politics, Blacks and Racism

This video spawned from the reactions I got from my first two videos on the subject of Ron Paul, Bill O'Reilly, Blacks and politics, as well as the "window" that was opened to another part of how society thinks.

Overall, I think it's very good to have a dialog on race as many of the improvements in American society and racial and sexual relations have come within the last 70 years, but many young adults active in politics now were born after the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and the Civil Rights Act before it. Thus, they lack a real tangible understanding of how America was and why these laws are on the books.

Congressman Ron Paul's presidential run has drawn many young people – many of whom lack an understanding that laws are in place to protect us from ourselves – or more to the point, each other. Thus, one person wrote to advocate dropping hate crime laws because they bought in to Ron Paul's expressed idea that to point out racism is racist – forgetting that Congressman Paul himself was recently recorded as pointing to an act that's racist.

But many Paul supporters got after me about asking a question about Paul's 1996 campaign newsletter and its racist statements for the CNN/ YouTube Republican Debates . I've not seen Congressman Paul address this question in the Presidential Race or in the debate of last week. As I state in both videos, I think it's time he did, and to denounce the support he gets from White Supremacist groups.

Some wrote comments that Paul's participation in the "African American hosted" debate moderated by Tavis Smiley was evidence of his lack of any racist thought. I disagree with this because Pau's a free marketier who seems to enjoy arguing with people (thus his appearance), but came away convinced that Paul could handle answering the question I posted for the CNN/ YouTube Debates. Indeed, a question that still remains unanswered.

I was also upset with that debate, as it placed the African American inferiority complex on display for a public audience. We see a debate where the Presidential candidates are thanked for attending and much time is spent chastising those who did not. In other words, thanks for remembering us Black Americans. Who cares if Giuliani, Thompson, Romney, and McCain didn't come? And why thanks the candidates who did come? Heck, they're supposed to be there in my view.

The other video that received a lot of views and controversy was my innocent video essay blasting Bill O'Reilly for his weird comments upon visiting Silvia's, an upscale Harlem soul food restaurant. O'Reilly said essentially that he was surprised to find the Black owners and patrons created a nice restaurant that was "like any other New York restaurant."

For Bill to make that statement in 2007, with the CEO of American Express being Black, and with other examples of Blacks who are running companies and cities, and restaurants, I was totally upset with Bill, and don't know what drove him to make statements like this.

Bill spent the entire week hammering CNN and other news outlets for hammering him on his statement. He enlisted the help of Fox News Contributor Juan Williams who was the voice on the other end of Bill in the now famous clip. Williams, who's Black, explained that O'Reilly had done nothing wrong at all and that they disagree all the time.

But Williams is a friend of O'Reilly and thus not really eligible to make comments as he's got a bias toward his friend. O'Reilly is not my friend or yours – we don't know him well enough to be comfortable with the "friendly racism" he expresses, nor should we. Williams is certainly a good friend, but he didn't get Bill off the hook in this case.

In closing, I'm happy we have an active dialog about race and racism, but I'm most displeased with the debate's display of African America's inferiority complex – it's something that must be eliminated and soon. We need to remove these mental chains and grow.

Barack Obama Ahead In Iowa - First With Likely Caucus Goers

Much to the apparent dismay of Politico's Ben Smith , who's downplaying the news, Senator Barack Obama's ahead in Iowa according to a poll of likely caucus-goers. It's a 4 point lead.

CNN.com - New Hampshire CNN Presidential Poll - 83 Percent Still Undecided!

CNN keeps putting out these polls, but they don't tell you on air how many people are undecided in the Democratic race. This is the question that was asked in New Hampshire:

34. (DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY VOTERS ONLY:) Have you definitely decided who you will vote for in the New Hampshire primary, are you leaning toward someone, or do have you considered some candidates but are still trying to decide?

( http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/09/25/relnh5a.pdf )

Well, here was the response for New Hampshire:

September 2007
Definitely decided 17%
Leaning toward someone 28%
Still trying to decide 55%

That's 83 percent of those polled who are still undecided! That's right. 83 percent. Let's put it this way, that means just 17 percent of the people CNN polled made up their mind.

Think that's bad, look at these results from earlier this year:

July 2007
Definitely decided 10%
Leaning toward someone 26%
Still trying to decide 64%

That means just 10 percent knew who they were voting for in July and the number has increased just seven percent. That means this is a wide open race.

For Ann Coulter, Upsetting Democrats Is Better Than Sex

This text below is from the Examiner and basically supports my video about Ann Coulter and John Edwards, where I stated he and his wife Elizabeth were waisting their time attacking her. My video's below, in case you didn't see it the first time.

From The Examimner - Coulter’s latest publicity extravaganza is pegged “If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans,” which is due out in two weeks. Her polemical pyrotechnics are sure to cause just as much hullabaloo as her previous works (a sampling: “Bill Clinton’s library is the first one to ever feature an Adults Only section” and “The Military — Their Pet Peeve: Keeping George Clooney Safe”).

In the book, Coulter admits to loving the marvelous buzz (and money) her controversies create. “About twice a year for nearly a decade, I have upset the little darlings with some public statement. … Each time they think I can’t ‘sink any lower’ — I proceed to do so! ... When I see the hot spittle flying from their mouths and the veins bulging and pulsing above their eyes, well, that’s when I feel truly alive. … And with every statement that brought my career to a crashing halt, I continued to write bestsellers. ... My career has been ‘finished’ so many times, I’ve practically made a career out of ending my career.”

2008 Presidential Race - Zennie Questions Fayetteville, GA

I recently took my trusty Sony camcorder to visit my Mom in Fayetteville, GA and in the process ask some of the locals two questions: first, what they thought of the 2008 Presidential Race, and second who they planned to vote for. I received some interesting responses.

Now, it must be reported that I did not go up to every person I encountered. I randomly picked my spots and let's face it, most people will not speak before a camera. Yeah, someone may give this great opinion but the minute I say "Hey, can I get that on camera?" they will say "No, not on camera." The very act of coaxing them is so time consuming that I'd rather not be bothered. But then there are people who do speak, and they offer a great opening to be interviewed.

Also, I knew I was going to make a five-minute video -- ok, almost six -- and so didn't focus on talking to a lot of people. I wanted to have full unedited responses, and that's what I got.

I also didn't try to get some kind of ethnic balance. To be frank, Fayetteville, GA offers a pretty fair variety of people. The 2000 census, which really reflects the mid-1990s when you think about it, is just plain wrong about Fayetteville, Georgia in 2007. This Atlanta suburb is now seemlingly half-African American, if not majority Black. Regardless, my experience confirms my assertion that our American Census and the country's overall perception of itself on a regional basis is way out of whack with reality.

The true picture I get is of an America more diverse and mixed in thought and in human color than we are led to think by the mainstream media, which itself needs an overhaul because it's so behind the times in how it covers American Culture -- fact is replaced by bias dressed as fact all too often.

But I digress.

What I learned in my little bitty video survey is that people have made of their minds -- sort of. The responses you hear all come with the causionary sentence "For now", or "At this time." Which means they could switch or shift for some unknown reasons.

To me this is shaping up as the most volitile and unpredictable election in American History. I think Bill Kristol nailed it when he said the 2008 Presidential Race will break all the rules. There are so many elements that are a part of today's culture that were not even evident in 2004, when President Bush was reelected -- YouTube, cell-phone-only-homes, to name a few of them. Plus, the standard methods of surveying our society's preferences doens't even capture this, and yet the results are reported on CNN and other news networks and without introspection.

Wow.

This is the election where America will learn how wrong it is about itself.

2008 Democratic Presidential Race - Iowa Polling Confusion

According to Pollster.com, two new Iowa polls show a very close race but with two different leaders. Here's what they write:

Two new polls of "likely Democratic caucus goers" conducted over the last ten days that show very different results. The American Research Group (ARG) survey (conducted 8/26-29, n=600) shows Hillary Clinton (with 28%) leading Barack Obama (23%) and John Edwards (20%). And a new survey from Time/SRBI (conducted 8/22-26, n=519, Time story, SRBI results) shows essentially the opposite, Edwards (with 29%) leading Clinton (24%) and Obama (22%).

The article goes on to complain about the lack of disclosure of methodology used in the polls, and then praises the Time poll for disclosure:

The sample source was a list of registered Democratic and Independent voters in Iowa provided by Voter Contact Services. These registered voters were screened to determine their likelihood of attending the 2008 Iowa Democratic caucuses.
Likely voters included in the sample included those who said they were
100% certain that they would attend the Iowa caucuses, OR
probably going to attend and reported that they had attended a previous Iowa caucus.
The margin of error for the entire sample is approximately +/- 5 percentage points. The margin of error is higher for subgroups. Surveys are subject to other error sources as well, including sampling coverage error, recording error, and respondent error.
Data were weighted to approximate the 2004 Iowa Democratic Caucus "Entrance Polls," conducted January 19, 2004.

Turnout in primary elections and caucuses tends to be low, with polls at this early stage generally overestimating attendance.
The sample included cell phone numbers, which, to the extent SRBI was able to identify them, were dialed manually.

I emailed Schulman to ask about the incidence and he quickly replied with a "back of the envelope" calculation: Their sample of 519 likely caucus goers represents roughly 12% of eligible adults in Iowa (details on the jump), exactly the same
percentage as obtained by the recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, but higher than the reported 2004 Democratic caucus turnout (5.5% of eligible adults). Keep in mind, however, that the ABC/Post poll used a random digit dial methodology and screened from the population of all Iowa adults.

Keep in mind that these polls make calls to landlines and not cell-phones. I decided to check on articles related to the matter of cell phones and polls, and found one by the Pew Research Center that reported only 7 percent of the population was "cell-phone only" -- but that was in 2005. A more recent study of this year now reports that estimate to be up to 16 percent, more than double the count in just two years. Thus, I argue that with such a rate of growth, the cell-phone only population will be up to about 25 percent -- one quater of the population -- by election year 2008.

The Pew report explains that the exclusion of cell phones in 2005 probably renders a poll in error by one-percent. But considering that rate and this population increase, it's reasonable to argue that the polls are inaccuate by as much as 4 percent. If you add the error term of 5 percent in the case of the Time Iowa poll, it means a whopping 9 percent error, basically making the Iowa Democratic race impossible to call.

Stay tuned for my video on this.

Ann Coulter - Devil Woman Wrecks John Edwards' Campaign

Senator Edwards was front runner in 2006 for the 2008 Democratic Presidential Campaign. Edwards polling has dropped – behind Clinton and Obama now

Why?

Ann Coulter

Coulter – The Devil Woman – has done harm by her comments about Edwards, but only because Edwards paid attention to them.

How did this start?

Her comments at the Conservative Political Action Conference where she used the F Word He responded in kind, calling her a “She Devil” which is just like being a devil woman

Liz Edwards jumps in calling Coulter while Ann’s on The Hardball Show. All of this has helped Ann’s visibility – she gets on Good Morning America and other shows talking about this and continuing the feud. She’s supposed to do this – she’s a pundit.

Now Ann’s brave and effective. She’s smart, attractive, and engaging. But she’s also skinny. Ann, you need to go to the gym, lift some free weights, and come out looking like Female Bodybuilder Christine Roth! Then you can make those pugilistic comments of yours without fear.

Now as for Edwards – or the Edwards family – they’ve hurt his chance to be president by rolling in the mud with Ann. Edwards has even used her videos making fun of him as part of his campaign fundraising strategy.

Didn’t work.

Why? Because on balance many people don’t care about what Ann says or know who she is. But they see a presidential candidate lowering himself to take her on and say “He doesn’t look Presidential” and they’re right!

You don’t see Senator Barack Obama or Senator Hillary Clinton commenting on Ann. Former President Clinto ignored her and she used the f-term to describe him.

But not the Edwards.

Indeed, John and Liz have developed a track record of arguing with pundits and making statement that don’t sound like things a presidential candidate should say. Let’s take Liz Statement about John being White and Male as a handicap in his run.

Bad form. It seemed like it was fine when he was ahead. I like Liz – she’s battling breast cancer as did my Mom, who’s won the fight! But still it wasn’t a dignified, presidential comment.

The Edwards’ have harmed themselves by forming an image that’s more in line with attacking a Devil Woman, but not one appropriate for President of The United States. Leave the Devil Woman alone – she’s gonna get you!

Hillary Clinton - NeoCon (Neo Conservative) - Video